With the increase of gambling at gaming venues has come increased competition between gaming venues to obtain a larger share of the total gambling spend. Gaming venue operators have therefore continuously looked for new variations and types of games in order to attract both new and return customers to their venues.
In response to this need, suppliers of gaming devices and systems have attempted to provide the sought after variety, while still developing games that comply with the relevant regulations in the jurisdiction of the gaming venue operator. Suppliers of gaming devices therefore are faced with restrictions on the types of games and gaming apparatus that are allowable, both in terms of the prevailing regulations and in terms of providing a return on investment to the gaming venue operators.
In addition, it is important that a player be able to understand the operation of a game quickly so that the player promptly feels that they are in control of game play and can therefore extract maximum entertainment from the game.
One strategy employed by gaming machine manufacturers in an effort to attract and to maintain player interest is to include various types of feature games that may be triggered from the spinning reel or base game.
There are a number of different feature games having pick-a-box type features, in which a prize is revealed in response to boxes being picked or matched.
In such games, prizes are normally revealed directly after a box or series of boxes has been correctly picked or matched. Games having reveal symbols generally operate in the same manner, in that a prize or award is revealed on selection of a symbol or combination of symbols.
Another type of known feature game is a game (see e.g. AU 715516) in which players select a plurality of elements or zones which together form a matrix. These elements change once they are selected by a player and reveal a particular prize value. In the event of a winning alignment of zones, a prize that is representative of the sum of the revealed prize values is awarded to the player. Only once the selection process has been completed by the player is the quantum of the prize value able to be determined.
In either of the above types of feature games disclosed, there tends to be a lack of player involvement and suspense after many successive iterations of the games, in the sense that a player is either made aware of a potential or actual award either before a selection or ‘pick’ step or series of steps, or immediately thereafter.
Any reference in this specification to the prior art does not constitute an admission that such prior art was well known or forms part of the common general knowledge in any jurisdiction.